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Felix Potvin’s lesson for Jonathan Bernier

Former Leaf goalie Felix Potvin let in an embarrassing goal in 1997, and never really recovered from it.

Former Leaf goalie Felix Potvin experienced an embarrasing goal in 1997 when a slapshot landed just in front of his crease, skipped and floated over his glove, cracking a tie with just two seconds remaining. Potvin’s career, to a certain degree, was never the same after that shot. (Andy Clark / Reuters)

The ways to do that are varied, but the mental function of replacing a bad thought with good ones is the most recommendable way of handling the kind of thing that happened to Jonathan Bernier Thursday night.

That thing was a long-distance wrist shot that travelled 114 feet through the air and landed in the back of the net behind Bernier. The goal set a new NHL record for the quickest short-handed goal to start a period (five seconds), but more significantly, left Bernier the task of processing such a glaring error out of his mind.

Former Leafs player development coach Paul Dennis handles those processes and many others as a high performance coach at York University. He saw the goal, like millions of others — the video has spread all over social media — and offers a three-step process to deal with it.

“When something like this happens (to Bernier), I have a three-step process to follow,” said Dennis, who helped players and coaches with mental preparation during his tenure with the Leafs.

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“Firstly, you accept that the egregious error has occurred. Secondly, you accept the negative emotions you’re feeling (guilt and embarrassment in particular), then thirdly, you let it go by replacing the thoughts and feelings with the best save you’ve ever made in your life. Relive it as if it were just happening, with all the emotion associated with it. Since the conscious brain cannot think of two things simultaneously, you can’t possibly be holding on to guilt and embarrassment if you’re thinking the other.”

Perhaps another beneficial development for Bernier, from a Leafs standpoint, is to get him back in the goal as soon as possible. That chance surfaces Saturday night when the Leafs visit the Flyers in Philadelphia.

The emotional impact of such an embarrassing moment can linger, though, and can present a challenge that could take days, weeks and months, to deal with — and sometimes it lingers longer than that.

Former Leaf goalie Felix Potvin experienced a similarly impossible moment when a long-range slapshot landed just in front of his crease, skipped and floated over his glove. The situation was possibly more embarrassing — the Al MacInnis shot, during a game against Calgary Nov. 17, 1997, struck at 19:58 of the third period to crack a 2-2 tie.

Potvin’s career, to a certain degree, was never the same after that shot.

He exited the Leafs via a bizarre trade request and AWOL incident, then went on to the Islanders where he was never the same goalie.

In his post-Leafs career, whenever he let a soft goal in, the “goal” inextricably resurfaced in his mind.

“Then things started to change,” Potvin told the Star’s Rosie DiManno post-career, about the ripple effects of that goal. “Whenever I gave up a weak goal, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, even while the game was going on. And I never used to be that way.”

Bernier’s response will be doubly important to the Leafs; it will it be important for him to deal with the goal mentally, but there is a bigger picture of his development in his first full year as a No. 1 goalie. Bernier, while gifted and talented on par with a top 10 NHL goalie, has struggled with a sub .900 save percentage in 10 of his last 12 starts.

“Some never can forget because there is such a strong emotional attachment to the error. That is, guilt of letting teammates down, embarrassment, even anger won’t allow us to forget,” Dennis said.

“Those who are incredibly mentally tough … they don’t allow any situation to dictate how they perform subsequent to an egregious error. Others allow the situation to dominate their thoughts and feelings. They’re the one’s who rent out space in their mind to things that will ultimately hold them back. Eddie Belfour was an example of the former.”

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